#NewLeadership Series With Chude Jideonwo: The ‘failure’ of #OccupyNigeria, and where we can go from here

I am very proud of what Nigerians achieved this time last year, when we came together to fight an unreasonable government policy of fuel subsidy removal; we properly and effectively channeled our anger to highlight the issue of government waste.

As we mark the one-year anniversary this week, January 2012 made me proud to be a Nigerian, indeed to be alive at a time of uplifting active citizenship across the world.

There are people, especially in government, led ably by President Goodluck Jonathan who have dismissed the importance of that historic battle – crediting “failed politicians” from Bola Tinubu to Nasir el-Rufai for mobilising the people with “bottled water”.

As an entrepreneur who closed down my business and made some self-sacrifice to join hands across lines to drive that protest from Ojota to Surulere and Victoria Island; who personally secured the participation of a great number of those artistes who performed because they believed in the cause, I feel very insulted by the allusion that ordinary Nigerians who joined the protest were bribed with “bottled water.”

But, I can understand the perception. The leading lights of the protests were politicians, and when politicians get involved, things easily lose their meaning. Of course, it makes no sense to reduce a protest that involved Nigerians of every hue and stripe simply because the political opposition aligned with it, but in a paranoid Nigerian political space, I understand the push-back.

They looked at the thousands in Lagos, angry and screaming and they saw the opposition’s party vice presidential candidate, Tunde Bakare speaking to them, and our short-sighted, over-indulged leaders put two and two together – and arrived at 10.

True, Bakare was an imperfect, maybe even fatal, vessel for the aspirations of the protesters, unable to rein in his passions and overtly calling for the death of our leaders, but he certainly had earned the right to lead it. He provided a backbone of strategy and resources, and managed to build a broad coalition that went far beyond the agenda of his political party or his own narrow ideologies.

But as much as you credit him for its success, he also made the unfortunate call that broke the back of that historic movement – when he came on stage and gave in to the pressure to break up the protest for the weekend and re-assemble on Monday.

Go home and re-load for an Occupy protest? The people of Egypt and Tunisia must have thrown their heads back and laughed at the picnic we were having.

I don’t blame Bakare. Unfortunately, I make bold to say that retreat is ingrained in the Nigerian character. As I read Chinua Achebe make his justifications for why himself and his intellectual friends agreed that Biafra should surrender to the rampaging Nigerian forces and give up the hard-won independence for which more than a million had died, I came to that conclusion that we are a people defined by retreat, or as my former pastor put it, “the spirit of almost there”.

Bakare made his call for surrender last year because the people were ready to surrender, and Bakare is a politician, and politicians listen to the people. The people he was leading had begun to grumble on Facebook and Twitter and to murmur at protest grounds across the country. They wanted a break from the protest; they had become tired.

I was in the middle of that protest, working with friends and associates to mobilise young people, and indeed it was a cause for great agony. Colleagues at my office were eager to return to work, many had lost the financial and other resources that kept the appearances of a normal life while we protested. There had been reports of breakdown of law and order across the state as hoodlums held sway, and people were just frankly, tired.

Let me also share a secret that we don’t want those in government to know: the entire protest wasn’t dependent on our will to see the course to the finish, it was sadly dependent on our hope and prayer that President Jonathan would suddenly agree with us and then reduce the pump price and would quickly declare “mission accomplished” and go back to our familiar routines. When five days after we left our jobs, he hadn’t done that, and his body language portrayed a man who was convinced he was doing the right thing, Nigerians began to second-guess themselves. That was when we lost the battle.

Bakare made the popular call, that inadvertently signaled to the powers that be, that Nigerians were not really for a revolution, as it were, or even a change in approach to governance.

We looked ready, we smelt ready, we sounded ready, but no, we were not ready.

No advancing army facing a ferocious, and equally advancing enemy stops to break bread. And that was the end of that.

Let me quickly say on the subject of Biafra, I cannot even begin to understand the effects of war, and how devastating – dehumanising – it must have been for the Igbos and minority ethnic groups (of which I am one) caught in the borders of what would have been a new nation in those times. It is more likely than not that if I had been involved in that war, I would have sided with the majority and conceded. I would have chosen respite over freedom, and reason over justice. A living dog is, after all, better than a dead tiger.

Unfortunately, being “unreasonable” (and may I gratuitously affirm that this is said with all sense of responsibility) is the nature of revolutions, and of the fight of a people to define their nations. It is the fight the people of Syria are having as we speak; one that the people of South Africa continued to the finish, one that South Sudan has fought and one that those inspiring people of Egypt have refused to stop having until their leaders do exactly what the mass of the people desire to be done.

It comes at so high a cost, that only a handful of nations per civilisation are able to begin and stay that course. Honestly, I am unconvinced that Nigerians belong to that small circle of peoples with that capacity for no retreat, no surrender.

By way of explaining this, some Nigerians have then tried to justify our culture of retreat – maybe we do not need a mass revolt; everyone after-all cannot be Egypt – and probably they are right. You couldpoint to countries like Singapore and Malaysia and perhaps post-conflict Rwanda, and to some extent modern Ghana, and speak to quiet and steady economic transformation driven (in some cases) by popular democracy as the solid alternative to “needless” bloodshed and the sacrifice of life and limb.

That is a legitimate explanation. Unfortunately, it is neither here nor there. How do we fundamentally change our country if we will not do it by driving the fear of our collective anger into the hearts of our leaders?

There is no other choice – in the absence of a mass revolt, those who seek to drive change now need to fall back on incremental change; a collection of little drops of activity by different sectors of society that will eventually deliver what some have called the Flywheel Effect. This will involve a deliberate, sustained effort to move from business as usual in the way our country is run.

Unfortunately (maybe fortunately) incremental change is in fact the hardest change of all.

It requires a coalition of people committed to that change; it requires a singular strategy; the kind that has driven China’s economic transformation; and it requires the sitting down to work out the details and contours of the shape this change should take.

It requires leaders who have the character to think of a long game and have the vision and temperament to build the coalition mentioned above, and it will require the collectivity of aspirations where we trade off some of our demands (call it principles) in the short term in order to win a long term war and earn the change that our country needs.

Does all of this give you a headache already? Yeah, I know the feeling. That’s why some people just prefer to take a gun and get the job done faster.

Well, take some painkillers quickly. We have work ahead of us.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________Chude Jideonwo is publisher/editor-in-chief of Y!, including Y! Magazine, Y! Books, Y! TV & YNaija.com. #NewLeadership is a twice-weekly, 12-week project to inspire action from a new generation of leaders – it ends on March 31.

I beg stop fooling yourself. What statement, that the youths of the country can easily be bought? mtchewww!!! One attitude about most nigerians that i loathe is that they are quick to be bought over. Most of our youths are morally corrupt and the fact is that if you cannot stand for something in totality, you can easily be carried away by any current. This year nigerian youths need to search their souls, do they want to continue the legacies of corruption that we have inherited by our leaders and society; sometimes a legacy that is forced upon us, and sometimes one we choose. We can come on here and write a long write up, but the thing is until most of these youths get a moral backbone that can transcend beyond Godfatherism, and “dash me make i shut up” or rather nepotism/cryonism, nigeria will never move forward. We can write all we want, but i believe in act first, then defend your action. There is a saying my mom always says, “as we are saying let us be doing.” I am not asking anyone to have my ideals of how things should be in nigeria, but to try to create a future for those who will come after us, to do that which our parents couldnt do for us for our children, to fight through actions rather than words. “Bi iso iya o ba run, o ye ki ti omo o le ta sansan.” In elementary school my AP english teacher forced us to interpret henry thoreau’s walden and his article on civil disobedience. In walden Henry thoreau writes ” “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.”
— Henry David Thoreau . I beg the youths of this country to try to suck out all the marrow of life, and so that when death comes, they dont start singing ifs and coulda, woulda, shoulda. No one can change the way you think but you. Be motivated to be better than you are today. To attain higher moral and ethical grounds, so that when you look back you can say, yes I tried my best to change my life and those around me for the better. You dont have to be billionaire to cause change it happens gently especially if you have a willing heart. One thing i learned growing up in the states is the kindness of neighbors and the services community provided to its inhabitants. I remember going to the library on weekends to volunteer reading to kids, i even coached soccer teams, taught spanish to young kids, and all this i did probono. The payment i got was the thank you and smiles that the children gave me, and for me there wasnt a monetary equivalent. I think that in nigeria, we the youths dont know how to do things for free and for the good of the community, to be selfless and pass down kindness, we always expect payments, whether from humans or God. I believe when our youths start looking beyond the monetary value of their actions or lack of, then such ideologies like # occupy nigeria can transcend past a few days of yelling and screaming. The truth is we out number our elders, and if we were wise we can use that number to our advantage. Most cultures survive by celebrating multiculturalism, and nigeria needs to learn that. I dont give a hoot about carnival this, carnival that, to me its total rubbish, for it has no credible useful platform to rise from other than political elitist nonsense. In the hearts of youths are sinister tribalistic sentiments indirectly or directly passed down by parents and society. Truth be told, no one is perfect, but embracing eachother’s difference is another way to occupy nigeria. Forcing grown adults who have formed their opinions about eachother already to volunteer for a year in a remote village or town other their hometown is useless to me, if the multicultural education dont start at home and at the child’s first day of school. It is harder to get an adult to change their mind about a group of people just because of a year, when the government could have started the multicultural education since preschool. OccupyNigeria should not start in the street, but in your homes, your neighborhood, your community and so on. I understand that nothing is perfect, but i am tired of nigerians always singing the woulda coulda shoulda sounds, when all you had to do is just do. To me that #occupynigeria should have been a stepping stone to bettering the government, your neighborhoods, but no like every other important issues in nigeria, the youth literally use their own hands to thwart the progress. May God help our fatherland, Guide our leaders right
Help our youth the truth to know
In love and honesty to grow
And living just and true
Great lofty heights attain
To build a nation where peace
And justice reign. AMEN!!

So true! We are not a revolution type people. We are too selfish to sacrifice ourselves for the country. In 2010, a young man set himself on fire to make a statement about his dissatisfaction with the Government, his actions caused the demonstrations we saw in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya etc… You’ll never catch a Nigerian killing him/herself for Nigeria. We’ll talk, we’ll try to act, and then we’ll settle. That’s us, from Biafra, to June 12th 1993 election, and recently the Fuel Subsidy demonstrations. No one is ready to sacrifice their life or small comforts for the country. We love life too much!

Ok Lily, its good you have pointed all these out so why not set a perfect example by setting yourself on fire since you detest life, mtschewww! Some people think via their trunk. I so agree with Glam, the Occupy movement may have suffered an untimely death but it did teach the govt a little lesson. United we stand!

Thanks Chude, we need articles like this one, to remind us that change in Nigeria is possible if only we are willing to commit, not moan. As the number of comments show Three so far), most Nigerians are not ready to walk the talk, they would rather complain and then go on to their entertainment news and comment on how people look. Its easier to gossip and grumble than proffer solutions or even think critically.

Ha, nawa o, @Lily start by killing yourself for Naija now or who are u waiting for to do it? Oloshi! People like Chude can only criticize, on d d-day now they will hide inside their toilet&if som1 calls dem by mistake dey will say they are sick. Mr Mobilizer!!!

The situation in nigeria is like a patient diagnosed with cancer (corruption). As at the time this dreadful disease was curable (before our value system and morals declined exponentially; when chivalry was very much alive!;when merit competed with quota system…), we refused to accept we have the disease. But now we have detected the cancer but unfortunately, it as metastasized, gone so chronic and incurable. To save the life of such patient (Nation), something drastic and urgent as to be done. The pertinent question to be asked, is: are we willing as a people to go through this tough pain and enjoy thereafter? Or should we just keep managing this cancer until we say to our children: “There was a country called Nigeria”. I have 2 suggestions: 1)A revolution of the mind which will take a long time or 2) A revolution with guns which will evolve a peoples constitution on how best we should be governed.
Keep repping Young Naija.

There is something about blood that is powerful……..is real escaped from pharaoh by blood, Christ saved the world by blood……..anybody who thinks that corruption in Nigeria can stop without a revolution is a fool……

Y did BN put up a post dat was sent like @ 3:26pm ontop, rather confusing. Like Helen said som pple tink via their trunk, @Lily, go&kill yourself for Naija, it’l b appreciated, yeye! @Nina Onita, u jst claimed a big space on dis comment box postin a bunch of rubbish, read back wat you wrote, where is the sense in it? Like Aproco said, the Occupy Nig. Movt tryd but Labour messed things up. Where were u during d strike? In d comfort of ur home dats y u can write an elaborate rubbish here, hypocrtite. Pple lyk u will ginger but wen push comes 2 shove u will go&hide in the toilet,mtscheeew!

my dear dont start with me, for you dont know me, i have done more for nigeria than that fake rubbish and waste of time you all called occupy nigeria. Mtchewww occupy my foot. I leave the so called comfort of my home twice a year ( 3weeks each) to come to nigeria to offer medical help to those who have no helping hand. I believe in doing, not talking and making unnecessary noise. My parents have a foundation that they give worthy students scholarship from, and the money come from our whole family. We do our fare share, as a doctor, i do my fare share, but it isnt enough, i would help if the youths at home help too, without looking for a compensation, nobody’s life is perfect. So before you run mad in the streets screaming am occupying this and that, and yet the next day you forget to keep fighting but continue with your lives, know that we the youths who look at nigeria from the outside are trying and will keep trying to help our brothers and sisters back home. I dont care what you think of what i wrote, but at least you took the chance to read the nonsense you think i wrote. At least you cannot say i lied about anything there. To thy own self be true!!

This Chude guy criticizes too much, haba! Abeg I agree wiv Glam, govt would hav tryd another stunts dis January if not 4 dat action we took last year, it may hav bin insufficient, but @least d govt understood we no longer thrive in silence. As 4 Lily, smh!

Well said article.. read it to the end, although long. I think I got the gist of it.

I agree with the author that we are not ready. To fight for total liberty is a mental effort, whilst some of us might take it seriously, others might see it as an opportunity to exploit and do much worse.

So my questions to Jonathan Goodluck President of Nigeria are: what happened to the increase in price? where did the extra money go? what was it used for (if it was used at all? and the impact of it? No accountability/transparency…. tutut

Back to the topic on ground. Is Nigeria ready for change? I think NOT. HOw? a nation that is eroded with strong hypocrisy and varied views. I doubt we can comprehend what change involves…

I also don’t support the view that our pro activeness and protests will make a long term difference? Why, we have had great men and women that have fought and sacrificed their lives for the betterment of Nigeria, yet their deaths and sacrifices seems to have been forgotten instead it has yielded advanced tactics in CORRUPTION, THEFT, BRIBERY, INJUSTICE and so much more.

My take: until this current system is eliminated in our minds, am afraid we are not ready for the betterment of Nigeria because one way or the other we are all GUILTY. If you look, think and watch closely we all advocate some form of injustice or the other whether its little or extreme. In our homes, schools, Church, workplace, community, society etc etc.

I propose we start with THE MAN and WOMAN in the MIRROR. You and I, lets make pact to be honest, credible, transparent, accountable, compassion, fair and PRACTICE what we PREACH.

Biko where was buying&selling during that occupy strike ehn Nina Onita? The youths u insult were @ Ojota under d sun&one was even killed&u say ‘youths were bought?’ Its not ur fault, commenting on BN is free dats y u can come here&type a bunch of nonsense. Lily, na u luv Naija pass bah? Prove it nah&kill urself. No o, som1 else should so it&not u, I tire 4 some pple.

lmaooo,lekwanuooo- even when a roaster crows a mere chicken will try to open its mouth, my dear stupidity is a sin and so is ignorance. This is 2013, open your eyes and realize that no body is perfect not even you. So maybe you dont think you can be bought, but believe me others can. And i am not one of those. Happy new year!!

Lol. Ok, I’m not suggesting that anyone kill themselves – that was an extreme example.
I agree with Chude that we are not able to go the whole distance. I like other Nigerians love life & have no plans of giving it up for Nigeria! The Government of Nigeria know this, that’s why they act with impunity. The Occupy Nigeria protests was a step in the right direction, however I’m not quite sure the government learnt any lessons. They will continue to push our boundaries, and we’ll do a lot of talking… .

Madam purpleicious, you think this is your blog abi? See all the space you have taken. Couldn’t you have simplified your unreasonable comment? You all demand revolution but no one plus the author, Chude is willing to initiate it, only inciting people, Chude be a hero&practice all that you have preached here.

@Oga Daniel.. nope I didn’t think it was my blog oo lol. more like a space to air my views just like everyone else. Nope, I couldn’t simplify it, as I had so much points to make/clarify. Thank you. Good day and God bless.
lifeinstagesdoz.blogspot.co.uk/

Until we change our mind set, Nigeria will make no real advances. Corruption is the root of all our problems, it stops us from having an average standard of living. I ask you, were are our emergency services? Do you have confidence in our Police force? None existent to the former and a big fat NO to the latter. We must turn our back on corruption for Nigeria to grow.

Its only hypocrites that sit from dusk till dawn criticizing those who have made efforts. Lily&Nina+purpleicious babe, you have Naija’s issues all figured out right? Do something and don’t take the entire comment box on BN typing crap!

Occupy Nigeria idea was solid, they really tried and should be commended and who was the Occupy Nigeria team, us(people of Naija) all who stood and rallied throughout. Now @Nina Onita your derogatory remark on d Naija youth is a shame to you, @LiLy you should have just left us with that first comment rather than adding another nonsense up.

I dey lie? I will insult the youths more if it will make us all wake up jor. I see the truth hurts, but it must be told, the fact is that some nigeria youths lack moral and have no ethics. A part of me want to blame the society, but you must take a share of the blame too as an individual. The fact is that Most Nigerian youths can easily be bought – and when i say bought, just oil their palms with the right or maybe less than enough money or promise of such compensation and they will do as you say. I dey lie? i beg make una shift jor, just because i dont live in the country 24/7 like yall dont mean am ignorant of the plight of our youths. Mtcheww!!!…. You know the worst thing you can do to yourself is to start to believe the lies you tell others as truths. I pray for Naija!!

Huh?! Daniel do you read? as much as I know, Chude reawakend youth protests with enough is enough in Abj and risked his life with SSS and police. And he was front of the occupy Nigeria. So what is ur argument exactly?

Hahaha! BN commenters and their bad mouth, habe been laughing all the way. But seriosly though, Lily you don shift go another discussion, kai, probably you drink shiwawa before commenting as for @Nina, you should check yaself o, seriously.

*Sigh* Big Joe and Chinedu – Chude founded enough is enough Nigeria. Led the protest to Abudemon 2010′ joined orders to push down the gates. Ld the protests inLagos, i was there. Was not a journalist. You guys forget your history too quickly and confidently speak from a place of ignorance.

@ Nina all that crap about helping and treating people is your profession its not a movement, I am a lawyer, I defend and help people but that’s not a movement. You could be brilliant but not intelligent @least your response shows that. Check yourself really, I mean like a double check.

The issue here is not Chude’s character or personality but the content of his article, his choice of words are kind of offensive, you don’t reduce people’s efforts to absurdity calling our attempts a ‘failure’. I was there @Ojota last year and it was rowdy and hectic yet we pushed on till it was announced that Labour had given in so to address ‘we’ in that manner is somewhat derogatory. As for Nina, you’re abroad making noise over what’s happening here, talking about how you help people in your line of profession, you want the country to be better but your foot is on foreign soil&who are you insulting the youths? Keep shut!

Chairus you posted a self written article by the same guy. He wrote the article and was not written about. Find an article that documents stuff about his achievement in moving Naija forward other than the Future Awards, then we can discuss. Pls, the glorified himself in that article.